Our services

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists assess and treat people with physical problems caused by accidents, illness and ageing. Physical approaches are used to alleviate signs and symptoms. Physiotherapy aims to help patients maintain, improve or restore function, activity, independence and prevent injury or illness. Physiotherapists work in consultation with members of the multidisciplinary team and work in the outpatient phsyiotherapy department and on the wards of all sites.

Our teams work in close liaison with medical staff, nurses and other allied health professionals.

Physiotherapy provides services to most specialist areas, including:

cardiac services

stroke

trauma and orthopaedics

elective orthopaedics

burns and plastic surgery

respiratory medicine

medicine for older people

spinal cord injury

The department also provides outpatient musculoskeletal services for patients referred by consultants. These services are located in the outpatient department that includes a large, well-equipped gymnasium and hydrotherapy pools.

The special skills in assessment and treatment techniques of physiotherapy are very important in helping patients regain their full physical function, or to make best use of impaired function, after a period of forced immobilisation and also in patients with respiratory disease or other medical conditions.

We are fortunate to have specialist physiotherapists in a wide number of fields working at the leading edge of service development. We have close links with the chartered society of physiotherapy and are actively involved with teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

We also provide a chronic pain and fatigue management service in the community.

The aim of the chronic pain and fatigue management service is to reduce the disability and distress associated with conditions causing chronic pain and/or fatigue eg musculoskeletal pain conditions, osteoarthritis, neuropathic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome/ME.

The service aims to help people who have chronic pain and/or fatigue who have not responded to other interventions. The management programme help people to develop physical, psychological and practical techniques to enable them to improve their quality of life and reduce their reliance on health care services. Following face-to-face or telephone screening, if a client meets the criteria for the service they will then be offered an assessment to establish suitability for the programme.

The service provides pain management programmes (PMPs) at Rayners Hedge in Aylesbury and Amersham Hospital. The PMPs are led by members of an interdisciplinary team including clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurse specialists and anaesthetists. Each group has up to 10 participants and meets weekly for 2.5 hours for up to 10 weeks. The service provides chronic fatigue management programmes (CFMPs) at Rayners Hedge in Aylesbury. The CFMPs are led, again, by members of the interdisciplinary team and each group has up to 10 participants and meets weekly for 2.5 hours for 10 weeks.

All participants are offered an individual review following completion of the programme and a follow up at six months. The groups use cognitive-behavioural principles and methods. Each session has explicit objectives, with topics including pacing, relaxation, coping with thoughts and feelings, work/leisure, communication and relationships, sleep and medical management. The format of the group is interactive, participants are encouraged to share their experiences and strategies for coping. Information about chronic pain/fatigue and techniques for managing it are taught.